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Biographies — page 50
2,466 public-domain biographies books, summarised. Page 50 of 52.
Thomas Carlyle
G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
A fiery Scottish thinker challenges the smug assumptions of nineteenth-century progress, insisting that history is driven by passionate spiritual power rather than mechanical systems or smooth political theories.
What I Remember, Volume 2
Thomas Adolphus Trollope
A bustling Victorian literary life unfolds across European stage-coaches and Florentine salons in this warm, wide-ranging memoir.
Life of Frederick Marryat
David Hannay
A life forged in naval gunfire and quiet sea routine shapes the foundation of a literary career built on sharp observation, practical sense, and unpretentious prose.
Memoirs of Arthur Hamilton, B. A. of Trinity College, Cambridge: Extracted from His Letters and Diaries, with Reminiscences of His Conversation by His Friend Christopher Carr of the Same College
Arthur Christopher Benson
A gifted young Cambridge graduate abandons ordinary academic ambition to forge an uncompromising inward philosophy, testing his ideals through travel, heartbreak, and devastating personal loss.
Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency
Saint-Simon, Louis de Rouvroy, duc de
An insider's view of absolute monarchy reveals how granular etiquette, ceaseless ambition, and personal rivalry shape the destiny of a kingdom.
Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte
Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne
A intimate, eye-level view of the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte reveals a leader operating at the thin margin where boundless personal ambition, administrative genius, and sheer luck collide.
The Autobiography of Thomas Platter, a schoolmaster of the sixteenth century
Thomas Platter
Driven by a desperate hunger for learning, a poor Swiss goat-boy travels Europe on foot to transform himself into a Renaissance master.
The Life and Adventures of Rear-Admiral John Paul Jones, Commonly Called Paul Jones
John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott
Driven by an unyielding desire for glory and justice, a Scottish-born sailor navigates political petty jealousies and lethal naval battles to lay the groundwork for a new nation’s maritime power.
The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Volume 14: Lives of the Poets
Suetonius
Behind the grandeur of ancient Rome's golden age of literature lies a human reality composed of imperial patronage, deadly political grudges, social climbing, and sudden, quiet tragedies.
The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 11 (of 32)
John Wesley
An austere vision of Christian perfection takes shape through the rigorous self-examination and unrelenting zeal of three exceptionally devout men.
William Morris: A Critical Study
John Drinkwater
An energetic youth amidst Essex woodlands grows into a lifelong crusade to reclaim art, work, and community from modern industrial ugliness.
A Boy's Experience in the Civil War, 1860-1865
Thomas Hughes
Witnessing the transformation of a city under siege, a young boy observes the final, fading years of the Confederacy from the vantage point of Richmond. These recollections provide a rare, intimate view of a society in the grip of existential collapse.
Attack: An Infantry Subaltern's Impression of July 1st, 1916
Edward G. D. (Edward George Downing) Liveing
This is a searing, immediate account of a young officer’s experience during the opening of the Battle of the Somme. It captures the transition from the mundane routines of war to the sudden, chaotic violence of an infantry assault.
Early Letters of George Wm. Curtis to John S. Dwight
George William Curtis
Two young idealists step away from mid-nineteenth-century American conventions to live, farm, and reflect together, initiating a lifelong bond defined by art, transcendental philosophy, and mutual devotion.
From Bull Run to Appomattox: A Boy's View
Luther W. (Luther Wesley) Hopkins
This personal account traces the journey of a young Confederate cavalryman, capturing the harsh realities of life on the march and the eventual collapse of the Southern war effort. It serves as a grounded, intimate reflection on the experience of a soldier serving under J.E.B. Stuart and Robert E. Lee.
From the Darkness Cometh the Light, or Struggles for Freedom
Lucy A. (Lucy Ann) Delaney
Born free yet dragged into bondage by white greed, a daughter and her mother fight a relentless, seventeen-month legal battle in a St. Louis courtroom for the stolen right to their own lives.
Monk
Julian Stafford Corbett
The man who steered England through the chaos of its most turbulent century, George Monck, remains a figure of quiet, iron-willed endurance. He stands as the singular, steady hand that brought a fractured nation back from the brink of perpetual civil war.
Portrait and Biography of Parson Brownlow, The Tennessee Patriot
William Gannaway Brownlow
This volume documents the defiant journey of a Tennessee clergyman who risked execution to preserve the American Union. It serves as both a political testament and a vivid portrait of loyalty amidst the fracturing of a nation.
Reminiscences of the Military Life and Sufferings of Col. Timothy Bigelow, Commander of the Fifteenth Regiment of the Massachusetts Line in the Continental Army, during the War of the Revolution
Charles Hersey
This chronicle traces the grueling path of a revolutionary soldier who left his home in Worcester to secure American independence, only to return to a life of hardship and premature decline.
The Early Life of Mark Rutherford (W. Hale White)
William Hale White
Quietly reflecting on a mid-Victorian youth, this memoir charts a journey from rigid provincial Dissent into intellectual freedom, measuring the quiet cost of independent thought.
The war in Nicaragua
William Walker
Driven by an unyielding sense of manifest destiny, a small band of Americans attempts to reshape the political landscape of Central America through armed intervention in the Nicaraguan civil wars of the 1850s.
When I Was a Boy in Japan
Sakae Shioya
A young boy navigates the changing tides of late 19th-century Japan, balancing traditional family expectations with the rapid modernization of a country opening its doors to the wider world.
A Day with John Milton
May Byron
This slender volume captures a single day in the life of John Milton, a man navigating the twilight of his years, his sight, and his political hopes. It offers a meditative, intimate portrait of a titan of English literature living in the quiet, often contentious isolation of 1665 London.
A Soldier in the Philippines
Needom N. Freeman
HOOK A raw, unvarnished account from the perspective of an enlisted infantryman, this narrative chronicles the daily grind and hazards of the Philippine-American War.
Abraham Lincoln
T. M. (Thomas Mears) Eddy
The shadow of a martyred leader falls across a nation in mourning, prompting a powerful reflection on the moral duty to preserve the Union and complete the work of emancipation through divine and national resolve.
André Michaux's Travels into Kentucky, 1793-96
Thaddeus Mason Harris
The American frontier was not merely a map of wilderness; it was a living, breathing laboratory of botany, commerce, and human resilience. These journals offer a rare, ground-level perspective of a nation in its infancy.
Autobiographical Sketches
Annie Besant
The life of a Victorian reformer unfolds here, capturing a woman’s transformation from a sheltered, devout daughter into a defiant, pioneering voice for atheism, birth control, and intellectual freedom.
George Buchanan
Robert Wallace
A towering Renaissance intellectual, this scholar shaped European thought and Scottish political life while navigating the treacherous waters of the sixteenth century. His story remains a testament to the enduring power of the written word.
History of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Cavalry
R. C. (Richard C.) Rankin
A firsthand, unvarnished account of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, this narrative tracks the regiment’s grueling service across Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia, capturing the raw, day-to-day reality of life in the Union saddle.
Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon
Craik, Henry, Sir
A statesman navigates the treacherous tides of the Restoration, holding fast to constitutional principle while the volatile whims of a king and the jealousies of a court conspire to undo him.
Lives of Celebrated Women
Samuel G. (Samuel Griswold) Goodrich
This collection of biographical sketches explores the lives of notable women, challenging the notion that their influence should be confined to the domestic sphere. It celebrates figures who exerted power, intellect, and courage on the world stage.
Marse Henry: An Autobiography (Volume 2)
Henry Watterson
The twilight of a life spent in the thick of national politics and journalism finds its reflection in these pages, where public history softens into personal reminiscence. It is a portrait of a turbulent era, drawn with the steady hand of one who lived through it.
Painted Windows
Elia Wilkinson Peattie
A childhood revisited through the lens of memory offers a sanctuary for the restless heart, proving that even the most ordinary days hold the weight of profound revelation.
The Fight for the Argonne: Personal Experiences of a 'Y' Man
William Benjamin West
The firsthand account of a civilian relief worker offers an intimate, grounded perspective on the logistics and the human cost of the American offensive during the final months of the Great War.
The Man Behind the Bars
Winifred Louise Taylor
A woman’s lifelong dedication to befriending incarcerated men reveals the humanity behind the criminal label. This account challenges the reader to look past the crime and see the person trapped within the penitentiary walls.
The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Volume 17: Return to Italy
Giacomo Casanova
A wandering adventurer navigates the complex social codes, theatrical rivalries, and romantic entanglements of 18th-century Italy, documenting a life lived with unyielding appetite and a keen, observational eye.
A Relic of the Revolution
Charles Herbert
This is a raw, firsthand account of the brutal reality of the American Revolutionary War from the perspective of an imprisoned sailor, documenting the deprivation, resilience, and daily grind of survival behind enemy lines.
Earliest Years at Vassar: Personal Recollections
Frances Ann Wood
A pioneer educator captures the intimate, unvarnished reality of building a collegiate institution for women from the ground up, where the grand mission of learning met the daily, human comedy of communal life.
Fifteen Months in Dixie
W. W. (William Worthy) Day
This is a raw, unflinching account of a Union soldier’s endurance through the systemic deprivation of Confederate prison camps. It serves as a stark testament to the human capacity to survive in the face of absolute misery.
Great Englishwomen: An Historical Reading Book for Schools
M. B. (Margaret Bertha) Synge
These accounts of notable women from British history serve as a primer for young students, blending moral instruction with the narrative of their lives.
How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon: A True Romance of Patriotic Heroism Christian Devotion and Final Martyrdom
Oliver W. (Oliver Woodson) Nixon
This account chronicles a pivotal figure in the American settlement of the Northwest, framing a missionary’s perilous journey as the decisive act that secured the Oregon Territory for the United States.
Lives of the English Poets: From Johnson to Kirke White, Designed as a Continuation of Johnson's Lives
Henry Francis Cary
The path of the English writer is rarely a straight line, marked as much by the quiet burdens of daily life as by the brilliance of the page. This collection offers a meditative survey of the lives that shaped our literary heritage.
Memoirs of Doctor Burney (Vol. 1 of 3): Arranged from his own manuscripts, from family papers, and from personal recollections by his daughter, Madame d'Arblay
Fanny Burney
This memoir serves as a sprawling, intimate portrait of an ambitious man of letters, written by his daughter with profound devotion and a keen eye for the social textures of eighteenth-century England. It captures the rise of a self-made polymath through the lens of family history, private correspondence, and the…
The Incomparable 29th and the "River Clyde"
George Davidson
This unflinching diary captures the grueling reality of the Gallipoli campaign through the eyes of a medical officer serving with the 89th Field Ambulance. It is a vital, ground-level account of the human cost of the Great War.
The Log of a Noncombatant
Horace Green
A restless journalist trades the safety of a New York newsroom for the front lines of World War I, witnessing the systematic destruction of Belgium and the unraveling of civilian life.
Life and writings of Amelia Bloomer
D. C. (Dexter C.) Bloomer
This account documents the life and public activism of a foundational figure in the American woman’s rights movement, offering a candid look at the challenges faced by those who first dared to organize for equality. It serves as both a biographical record and a repository of the era’s most pressing social arguments.
Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Volume 3: Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, First Lady in Waiting to the Queen
Mme. (Jeanne-Louise-Henriette) Campan
The intimate, often stifling world of the French monarchy receives a rare, firsthand witness in these memoirs, which capture the fading luster of the Ancien Régime through the eyes of a devoted attendant.
The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 1
Various
This mid-nineteenth-century repository of New England life captures the intellectual, political, and social pulse of Massachusetts through a diverse collection of historical sketches, contemporary debates, and serialized fiction.